Down With the Dark: The plague of the dead

Behind the windows of the prince's room, it was raining like it was the end of the world. If he listened closely, he could hear the fearsome roars of a dragon that was probably flying way up above the rain clouds. Or maybe it was just the highest towers of the castle being grazed by the bright touch of lightning. He couldn't tell. The prince had never seen a dragon in his life before.

He tossed and turned in his bed trying to wrap his mind around the mission he was to carry out tomorrow. Of course it was not an official one because it was neither ordered, nor approved by the King. His Royal Highness had probably not the slightest clue about the whole situation. Prince George however,had no choice but to see this through.

He had to wake up early the next, morning, ride hundreds of miles on horseback and see if we could get hold of some luck on his way to help him with the mission.

The room was lit up entirely by the flash of lightning and a few moments later, the glass windows and ancient bricks of the castle began to threateningly shiver.

George pulled out a drenched, pasty envelope from under his pillow to read the letter inside it once again. He playfully run his fingers over the seal and let his thoughts get deeper as he brooded quietly.

Suddenly, the heavy wooden door of his room jolted in its hinges as if someone had just banged a battering ram against it. A clear voice boomed from the other side, " George? are you awake?"

The prince jumped out his bed and nervously answered," yes, yes. come in! No one followed you here now, did they?"

"Of course not! may I come in?"

The door jolted as hard as before and the shimmering lights of the torches in the hallway, brightened half of the room. George step toward the young man at the door and leaned into the hallway to make sure there was no one around.

" What's the matter, George? why did you ask to see me?"

The young man was already in the room and was now watching the valley below the castle walls from one of the large windows of George's room.

George close the door behind him quickly, locked it and said, " I need your help, Carlos. I want you to come with me tomorrow. I know this is too much to ask, but..."

" To go where? what do you want my help with?"

The young man, slightly larger and stronger-built than the prince, was still calmly staring out the window.

"To Greenyard. this letter came today and..."

" Let me stop you right there. Now, did I hear that right? Greenyard? Do you have any idea what a long and tedious journey it can be? Other than that, we would have to cross that damned bridge between the city and the eastern meadows. Did you not hear the builders' report last week? It's not going to be for another two months for us to be able to use the crossing. The foundations of the bridge are ruined. What would you even..."

" Forget the bridge. We'll take another path then."

Carlos' face lost all color for a few moments and George was pretty sure he was having a hard time searching for the words to say.

With an awfully dry throat, Carlos stuttered," You...you don't mean that we...take the Pinewoods path,do you? You know what lies in that damned forest, George!"

" Yes. That's exactly what I meant. That damned forest is now the best solution I can come up with. We must reach Greenyard as soon as we can in however way possible. Something terrible is about to happen. And I'm sure it's already started"

George handed the pasty envelope to Carlos and added, " This message was sent by your father from the capital of Sparrownest Island. Read it. It will explain everything."

Carlos, gently open the envelope and began to read:

Dear Jason,

My honourable friend, I must be blunt with you. A grave danger is upon us all. Godric Beautelle is leading the largest fleet of warships in the realm to the north to conquer the Ancient Islands. That is the least of our concerns, however. Many of the independent kingdoms and settlements in the east and south of the Nine Isles, have joined him in the fight and are now sending troops to the northern territories. One of these allies is our very own neighbour, Cranewood. I hope you have already understood what a gruesome threat that is to the capital of Lunarfield. Crescent City is in danger. The soldiers of Cranewood will soon open fire on the Castle to steal whatever food, weapons, soldiers and ships they can find. Evacuate the castle and of course, the capital as soon as you can. Seek refuge in the villages and smaller cities of Lunarfield until we can fight back.

At that moment, George nearly let out a scream and snatch the letter out of carlos's grasp like a madman. Astonished, Carlos gracefully responded, "Perhaps you can try and control your emotions next time. At times like this, when the king is not around, it's up to his son to take hold of the situation."

"I thought... that was not the message in the letter when I opened it!"

Carlos, reassuringly calm and collected, took back the letter, waved it a few times in the year with a firm grasp and to George's great surprise, the words began to move and deconstruct themselves like quicksand, making a whole new combination of words and sentences on the paper.

" It's called Quick Ink. You can write secret messages with it without anyone intercepting the correspondence . My father must have been worried that this letter would never make it to the castle. "

Carlos took a deep breath and began to read the second message.